Asia is a growing market for sports turf maintenance and interest in our products has increased tremendously over the last few years. Export Sales Manager David Harrison has travelled across Asia holding demonstrations, setting up dealerships and exploring many opportunities in the countries which make up this vast continent.
We first made a huge impression in Japan working with Japanese dealer Toyo Green with the Koro Field TopMaker (FTM) fulfilling its role in the decontamination process following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant disaster in 2011. The Koro FTM has been part of a clear-up campaign across 43 separate projects covering an area of 511,138 square meters. The success to-date has been widely acknowledged, but there are some affected zones still to be treated before being given the all clear.
In addition to established Korean dealer Arcwin, who has found the Air2G2 of particular interest and there are now 4 Air2G2’s in South Korea, Dave has also explored further marketing opportunities in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Laos with the appointment of agents BPS Services. In Malaysia, RS Greenmaster has been exceptional in its procurement of products; including an Air2G2 for contract work, the first Air2G2 for use at UITM sports ground, a Koro FTM2000 and Koro FTM1500 for their contract fleet, as well as a Koro RCD 1900, Imants RotoKnife, ShockWave, RootPruner, SandCat, a Campey Speedresser 24H, Aeraseeder and a set of Streigel Harrows!
Word of new methods and machinery spreads quickly and other enquiries have come from countries such as the Philippines where STA Elena Golf Club has this year taken delivery of an Imants ShockWave to tackle drainage and compaction issues on its fairways that traditional methods of decompaction haven’t been able to address.
As more markets open, interest in the new Universe® and Terraplane® rotors for the Koro FTM has intensified. Thailand contractor; Links Golf Services intends to carry out extensive contract work on both golf course and sports fields with the Koro FTM, supplied by our dealer Shriro. Links Golf Services have become the 2nd contractor in Thailand, after Golf East Group, to invest in the benefits of using the Koro FTM Universe® rotor in warm season grass renovations.
This surge in desire for new and innovative techniques has extended to Singapore where the country has over the last thirty years developed an enormous range of quality sporting and golf facilities. Machines such as the Koro FTM 1500 and Campey Speedresser 24H are helping to maintain the highest standards possible through contractors such as TEHC. They hold maintenance contracts for three major golf courses including the infamous Orchid Golf Club set up in 1991 by the late Mr. Ong Teng Cheong. He was the then Secretary-General of NTUC who mooted the idea of developing a golf and country club which would be affordable to workers, so that “Golf will no longer be a game for executives only” as he put it. This sentiment is in keeping with our philosophy of providing turf maintenance solutions for sport at every level from the ‘grass roots’ upwards.
The Koro FTM has also played a part in renovating both the Singapore Sports Hub – stripping out all the organic matter before installation of the new Eclipse pitch by HG Sports Turf, and for preparation of turf areas within the circuit of the Singapore Grand Prix Circuit.
As a result of Dave’s extensive campaign another major distributor to the sports turf and golf industries in this part of the world – Centaur Asia Pacific which has offices in Hong Kong and Singapore and currently represents internationally recognised equipment, products, and tools for the Golf Course, Sports Field, Nursery, and Landscape markets throughout Asia, was appointed to represent Campeys in this important and rapidly expanding market.
One of Centaur’s established customers is The Hong Kong Jockey Club. Founded in 1884 the HK Jockey Club changed from an amateur to a professional organisation in 1971 with a second racecourse opening at Sha Tin in 1978. The track has seen non-stop action ever since. Centaur has supplied them with a Koro FTM 2000 and demonstrations are currently taking place in Hong Kong with the innovative Air2G2.
Dave is delighted that all the investment in time, travel and follow up has paid off. “It has taken a lot of hard work, patience and persistence, but the seeds of best practice have been sown. At last, we are starting to see the latest renovation practices working along-side traditional methods of turf management. With the interest and enthusiasm shown by all of our new dealers, the market for our products in Asia will continue to grow in the coming years.”
